| | William B. | Anderson | California/Los Angeles Division;
District of Columbia/FBIHQ;
District of Columbia/WFO;
Oregon/Portland Division;
Pennsylvania/Pittsburgh Division
Pennsylvania/Philadelphia Division, Newtown Square RA | 1948 - 1975 | Watergate | Watergate, Polygraph | After serving in the United States Marine Corps in China, Anderson graduated from Pennsylvania State University and became an FBI Special Agent in February 1948 at age 23. His first assignment was the Portland Field Office followed by the Umatilla Resident Agency (RA) near Pendleton OR. In 1951, he was transferred to the Los Angeles Field Office and was Supervisor-in-Charge of the Security Index. He later was transferred to the Fresno RA for a period of time and then back to Los Angeles. In 1953, Anderson moved to FBIHQ in Washington, DC, where he worked in domestic intelligence. He transferred to the Washington Field Office to gain more street experience in criminal work, and later returned to FBIHQ. A transfer to the Pittsburgh Field Office followed in 1959 and he was singled out to attend the new FBI Polygraph Training School, Class #2. He later was transferred to FBIHQ Inspection Division in Washington, DC; the Philadelphia Field Office and the Newtown Square RA. With over twenty-seven years of FBI service, Anderson was formally commended nearly thirty times for his personal investigative abilities, informant development skills, and supervisory achievements in organized crime, national security, general criminal matters, and polygraph, and was rated for outstanding performance in 1973. He discusses the workings of a polygraph and the training and criteria used by the FBI, as well as details of a few cases, including his role in the Watergate investigation. Although J. Edgar Hoover grudgingly approved the polygraph, he stopped use of them in 1965. William Anderson died in February 2018. | Download PDF 1 | | |